Reflection: What Co-ops and Internships REALLY Teach You (Kim Harrison - Senior - Mechanical/Nuclear Engineering)

It’s hard to believe that in a few short days, I will be finishing up my six-month co-op assignment at Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, CT. Needless to say, it’s been a great experience in many ways and I’m looking forward to taking much of what I learned into the next chapter of my life. I had my final exit meeting with my supervisor this morning which has made me reflect back on my experiences, both at Pratt & Whitney and my other two summer internship assignments. My current supervisor has only been in the position for three weeks, so my exit meeting was more of him giving me advice as opposed to a formal performance review. I think, to date, it has been the most valuable hour I’ve spent at work in my collective 12 months of experience. It put a lot of things in perspective for me as I am about to graduate from this wonderful university and enter the “real world.”

Co-ops and internships are great. It’s a chance to “test out” an industry, location, and a job function without fully committing. It can be very fast paced, since rotations can be as short as 10 weeks. And don’t forget, the pay is typically two- to four-times what I was earning at my first minimum wage job scooping ice cream. The biggest change for me was getting used to working with people who had been at the companies for longer than I had been living. In high school and college, you’re surrounded by your peers. The typical age difference is no more than half a decade. It’s quite humbling to be surrounded by, and work with, men and women who are the best at what they do.

Here’s what I think you should really aim to take away from a co-op or internship:

1. You don’t know everything. No seriously, you barely know anything. And not everything can be found in a text book, either. Companies don’t expect you to be able to recite Bernoulli’s equation or draw the phase diagram of salt water. Those problems have been solved already. Don’t get me wrong, those skills of analysis will help you tremendously as a practicing engineer. That’s the beauty of a co-op and internship. Everything you will need to know, they will teach you. Or have someone there to help you as you stumble your way through it.

2. The most important skills to develop while on a co-op or internship are interpersonal. Admit that you don’t know everything (see #1). Seek people out for answers you can’t find in a textbook. Chances are that many of your experienced co-workers will know exactly what (or who) can help you solve a problem. You’ll hear it over and over…but networking is an essential skill for any engineer. My supervisor, who has been interviewing many people over the past few weeks, told me he doesn’t look for people with specific Unigraphics NX 6.0 experience (the number one CAD tool used in my group), rather, he looks for soft skills because he knows he can teach the technical things.

3. Appreciate your co-workers. Having an intern or a co-op from a supervisor’s standpoint is much more work than I had realized. Mentoring takes a village and it may be a few weeks before you to get on your feet. During that time, you may be making many trips to your mentor’s desk. Everyone wants to see you succeed, however, so take advantage of those willing to lend you their time. If you can, nominate them for an award…but at the very least, make sure you find away to express your appreciation (even if it’s via email).

4. Go above and beyond. Think of these experiences as a 12(+) week interview. Rather than talking about how well you work in teams, or a time you went out of your way to solve a problem…do it. Collaborate with other interns on a project outside of your technical work. Aim to make the company better in some way. College students offer a fresh perspective. You’d be surprised at how many high-up executives are interested in what you have to say. And think about it, you’re most likely going to be eating lunch with other interns anyway…why not book a conference room and be productive?

See you in January, Happy Valley.

Major Focus: Carlye Lauff - Mechanical Engineering

Hello my name is Carye Lauff and I am a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. I love mechanical engineering because it is a major that can go into any industry. You have the opportunity to work in several main areas such as design, analysis, manufacturing, material science, as well as others. I have interned for two summer, one with GE Transportation in a role in analysis and the other with Boeing dealing with design. This summer I hope to work with manufacturing in order to see which area of mechanical engineering I feel the most comfortable. When you go to the career fair almost every company in every division from healthcare, to oil and gas, to transportation, to defense, to consumer products, to even the food industries are looking to hire mechanical engineers for internships, co-ops, and full-time. It is a great way to get your foot in the door of whatever company you are interested in!

During your first two years, most of the classes you take are common across all engineering. Then you begin to take more classes in engineering mechanics dealing with static and dynamic structures as well as strengths of materials. You also take core mechanical engineering classes in topics such as thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, vibrations, as well as many classes in design. Each of these classes prepares you with the fundamentals to understand how all systems work. Lots of the classes are focused on group projects and group assignments because in the real-world you are always working in teams.

My two favorite professors during my two years at Penn State have been my teachers in ME 300 (thermodynamics) and ME 320 (fluid dynamics). The reason I loved these two classes was because my professors genuinely cared about me and making sure I understood the material. I was able to go to their office hours and have them explain complex topics and even give me help on finishing the homework. Their dynamic personalities in class always kept my attention and their passion for the topics made me want to learn more as well. I have heard wonderful things about the rest of the mechanical engineering professors and I look forward to having them in my last few semesters.

I urge you to consider mechanical engineering because it has opened my mind to the endless possibilities made possible through engineering! And if you have any questions related to the major please do not hesitate to contact me at cal5323@psu.edu!

Major Focus: Alec Tanida - Bioengineering

Before I came to Penn State, I was pretty set on pursuing a degree in accounting. I applied to the Smeal College of Business and was fortunately accepted. I came in the first semester of my freshman year taking economics and some other business classes. However, I found that I was not interested in the material and that I disliked all of it. For a while, I felt pretty lost and was unsure of what I wanted to do. I kept looking around for majors and what I could possibly be interested in. During my first semester, I was taking a biology and a calculus class and I found that I really enjoyed them. Upon completion of these classes I knew that I wanted something in the healthcare field but I also wanted to use math. In the past, I have also been very hands on and loved to build and create things.

A semester of searching passed and I finally came to the College of Engineering, more specifically bioengineering. After doing extensive research, I determined that it had just enough of everything I wanted in a major: design, biology and math components. As a sophomore, junior and senior, I had the opportunity to take required classes and electives like Biomedical Instrument Design, Biofluid Mechanics, Bio-Continuum Mechanics and Surface and Biological Response to Materials. All of which were challenging yet very interesting. One cool class we get to take is called Introduction to Bioengineering Research and Design. This class works closely with Mashavu (a telemedicine system, Google it to find out more information) and teams in the class focus on developing a cheap, digital medical device for primary healthcare in third world countries. Kiosks with medical devices are set up in areas with minimal doctors and this allows patients to have their vitals taken. They would be recorded and either emailed or texted to nurses or doctors (sometimes halfway around the world) for them to determine if they need proper medical assistance. My team was assigned the task to design a stethoscope that could digitally record heart and lung sounds. We designed the hardware to be rugged and reliable and also created software to filter out background noise and save the sound files. Other teams focused on making scales, spirometers, and blood pressure devices among others. The best part about this project was that our devices were actually taken to Kenya to record vitals. It felt great to help out those in need!

After being in the program for over two years now and as I am close to finishing up my degree, I realized that bioengineering has not only satisfied my immediate needs as a freshman but has also exceeded my career goals. In the Penn State bioengineering program, typically a third of the graduating students go into industry, a third go to graduate school and a third go to medical school. Within industry, I know a lot of people that work with designing knee implants and medical devices; that work to improve manufacturing processes; and even with the business side of things. There are countless employment opportunities within the biomedical industry. If you find that you are more interested in research, then graduate school and possibly medical school may be the route for you. Friends of mine in the bioengineering department take part in research that focuses in artificial heart design, nanotechnology, imaging and tissue engineering. So basically, bioengineers can do anything.

I think the best part of this major is its small size. We have only about 40-50 students in my year and I personally know most of them. I met some of my best friends from bioengineering as a result of the countless hours we spend together in class, studying and just hanging out. The small major size also gives you the opportunity to get a lot of one on one help with the professors to help learn material and to build networks.

Despite all my confusion and uncertainty freshman year, I will be happily graduating with a bioengineering degree. I have really enjoyed my time at Penn State with courses, professors and students and I wish that I didn’t have to leave. Unfortunately, I only have another two semesters to go until graduation so I am in the job hunting process but I am very optimistic about the future.